Story

Act I

Victorian London, a mighty industrial city, the heart of a great empire: The
Ballad of Sweeney Todd begins, setting the scene for the awful
tale about to unfold.

Down at the docks, two men disembark and greet their native city. For
Anthony Hope, after years overseas, There's No Place Like London.
Sweeney Todd echoes that sentiment but for different reasons: London
is a hell hole, a black pit in which all the vermin of the earth are
gathered. As they part, a deranged Beggar Woman pathetically offers herself
to them. Todd is cruelly abusive, to the surprise of Anthony, who has
only known him as kind and gentle. Now, he seems embittered and hateful.
But London can do that. Todd relates the sad story of The Barber and
His Wife - and the rich, powerful man who desired her.

Leaving the docks, he makes his way to Fleet Street and Mrs. Lovett's
shop, wherein are sold The Worst Pies In London. There are lodgings
above, difficult to let since a nasty incident a while back: there was
a nice gentlemanly barber who worked and lived there with a young daughter
and a pretty little wife who attracted the attentions - Poor Thing -
of a corrupt Judge and his Beadle. They had the barber unjustly transported,
lured his sweet naive wife to the Judge's house, where she was raped
and her beautiful child taken from her. The barber was never seen again,
the wife took poison, but the girl Johanna still lives with the Judge.
Even as she tells the tale, Mrs. Lovett knows to whom she speaks: Sweeney
Todd has returned to have his revenge. She hands him the tools of his
trade, carefully kept by her since the day he was convicted. My Friends,
murmurs Todd, caressing his razors. "I'm your friend, too," adds
Mrs. Lovett. He takes the lodgings and sets up business as a barber.

Outside Judge Turpin's house, a Birdseller's Green Finch and Linnet
Bird are serenaded by another helpless caged creature from the
highest window in the house: Johanna. Passing by, Anthony buys a bird
and offers it to the young lady (Ah, Miss), but the Judge warns
him to keep away from his "daughter". Too late: Anthony is
in love and determined to rescue Johanna

In St. Dunstan's Place, a rival barber, Pirelli, is demonstrating the
remarkable properties of Pirelli's Miracle Elixir - much mocked
by Todd, who challenges the mountebank to a shaving competition. The
eager crowd enlists the help of Beadle Bamford, who umpires The Contest and
pronounces Todd the winner. Business booms in Fleet Street, but the obsessed
Todd awaits only the Beadle's custom. Wait, Mrs. Lovett advises:
vengeance will be his.

Unaware of Todd's return, the Judge has decided to marry his "daughter"
himself. Johanna is distraught, until Anthony climbs up to her room. Kiss
Me, they cry, and plan their escape. With his wedding looming, the
Judge is persuaded by the Beadle that Ladies in Their Sensibilities like
a man freshly shaved and pomaded. They make their way to Fleet Street,
and, as the lecherous Judge gleefully expounds on the subject of Pretty
Women, he little suspects that Todd's last visitor now lies lifeless
in the barber's trunk. Pirelli had recognised the returned convict and
foolishly attempted a little blackmail. But, just as Todd is about to
dispatch the Judge too, Anthony bursts in, gushing about Johanna and
their elopement. Judge Turpin leaves, swearing that boy and barber are
obviously in league. Todd rages at Anthony, at Mrs. Lovett, and, experiencing
his own mad Epiphany, vows revenge on all humanity. Mrs. Lovett
is more practical: what about Pirelli? Seems a shame to waste such fine,
plump flesh. What with the price of meat, maybe she and Mr. Todd could
be of mutual assistance. After all, her pies could do with some new flavours
- Italian barber, Royal Marine and maybe A Little Priest.

Act II

Mrs. Lovett's distinctive pies are the talk of Fleet Street. God,
That's Good, belch the patrons of her thriving new ale garden.
With such a harmonious business partnership, Mrs. Lovett is keen to
put relations with Mr. Todd on a more intimate footing and hints flirtatiously
how happy they'd he down By the Sea. But Todd's mind has been
twisted by hate and he thinks only of Judge Turpin and Johanna, now
incarcerated in a madhouse.

Mrs. Lovett's new help, Tobias, is fearful of Todd, but no-one will
harm her, he promises, Not While I'm Around. Suspicious that he
suspects something, she locks him in the bake-house. Upstairs, Beadle
Bamford has arrived and is playing Parlour Songs on the harmonium.
He has come because there have been complaints about an unpleasant smell
from the bake-house, and he'd like to take a closer look - which Todd
arranges by slitting his throat. The smoke from the chimneys has also
drawn the attention of the crazy beggar woman, who shrieks her warning
of City on Fire as Todd's scheme races to its conclusion: Johanna
is rescued by Anthony, the Judge joins the Beadle in the furnace, as
does the foolish madwoman.

Only then does Todd recognise her: his wife, his beloved Lucy, the one
person in the world his poisoned heart still loved. And, because Mrs.
Lovett lied and made him think Lucy was dead, he has killed her. He takes
his twittering landlady in his arms, they dance and he flings her in
the furnace before he, in turn, is killed by Tobias. When Johanna, Anthony
and the police arrive, the boy is grinding the mincer: the gruesome finale
to The Ballad of Sweeney Todd.

Characters

SWEENEY TODD

Morose and brooding, a barber by profession, newly arrived
in London after 15 years' unjust incarceration in a penal colony.

MRS. LOVETT

A cheery, chatty but wholly amoral shopkeeper whose premises
and pies are coated in dust and plagued by flies. She would like
to be more than merely a landlady to Mr. Todd.

ANTHONY HOPE

A young man, befriended by Todd on the voyage home.

JOHANNA

A beautiful girl, Todd's daughter but now claimed by Judge
Turpin as his own.

JUDGE TURPIN

A corrupt and depraved official, an upholder of justice who
twists the system to serve his own ends.

BEADLE BAMFORD

Turpin's accomplice in his crimes.

BEGGAR WOMAN

A mad old crone with a filthy tongue, whose cries go unheeded.

PIRELLI

An Italian barber, though of unauthenticated provenance.

TOBIAS RAGG

A simple, kind-hearted lad. He works first for Pirelli, then
for Mrs. Lovett, but never trusts Todd.